Disney: Power failure shuts down monorail

Jul. 13, 2014
|

A monorail at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., is shown in this file photo. One monorail shut down after a power failure during a thunderstorm Sunday, prompting firefighters to evacuate the ride. / Joe Burbank AP

by William M. Welch, USA TODAY

by William M. Welch, USA TODAY

A monorail train at Disney World in Florida stopped running and was evacuated Sunday after passengers reported seeing lightning.

Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said there were thunderstorms around Walt Disney World resort when the elevated train stopped. The cause of the power outage wasn't immediately known, she said.

"There was just some bad weather in the area and because of the power outage, the monorail guests were evacuated," she added.

She says there was no fire and all got down calmly with the aid of firefighters and a mechanical lift.

Several Twitter users reported the evacuation just after 6 p.m. including @WDWNT, which describes itself as as a website tracking news related to the Disney resorts. It tweeted a photo of the monorail stopped with emergency vehicles nearby.

WESH.com in Orlando reported 120 people were taken off the monorail ride without injury.

The amusement park is located at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., near Orlando.

"Literally stuck on a monorail at disney, lighting struck and we immediately stopped. I'm convinced that I'm going to die," said Twitter user @nnaaatttalliiie at 6:07 p.m.

Wahler says the outage affected just one Monorail line and other lines kept functioning normally.